There are continued needs for novel surfactants having improved surfactant characteristics. Desirable improvements to surfactants include characteristics affecting solubilization, gel formation, foam production and/or cloud points. In particular, the ability to employ surfactants having low surface tensions at low use levels and/or the ability to control foam characteristics of a surfactant have significant industrial importance. Extensive discussions of the fundamental properties and practical application of surfactants can be found in Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Fourth Edition, Volume 23, pp. 477-541, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Glycerin ethers represent a new class of emerging solvents, including glycerin-derived short-chain aliphatic ether or salts thereof. Various such solvents are disclosed for example in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0309849, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. These solvents can be used according to the invention to arrive at the novel solfactant class described herein. In particular, the glycerin ethers are particularly well suited for ethoxylation to arrive at the novel solfactants of the present invention.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the claimed invention to develop a novel class of compounds referred to as “solfactants” having improved surfactant and solvent characteristics to either replace or use in combination with alcohol ethoxylates in various formulations.
A further object of the invention is to develop a novel class of glycerin ether ethoxylate solfactants.
A further object of the invention is to provide methods of making and employing the novel surfactant class of glycerin ether ethoxylate solfactants.
Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.